1. Field
The present invention relates to an integrated circuit having a MCM (multichip module) structure, an interface circuit used in the integrated circuit, and an apparatus incorporating the integrated circuit.
2. Discussion of the Background
The MCM technology provides two or more semiconductor devices interconnected on a common substrate. Benefits of using the MCM technology include, for example, reduced circuit sizes, fewer and shorter interconnects, higher transmission speeds, reduced EMI (electromagnetic interference) emissions, reduced crosstalk noises, and highly flexible packaging designs.
FIG. 1 illustrates a background integrated circuit 100, having an MCM structure, in which a semiconductor device 100A and a semiconductor device 100B are formed on a common substrate.
As shown in FIG. 1, the semiconductor device 100A and the semiconductor device 100B are connected to each other via an interface circuit 103.
The interface circuit 103 includes, for example, a pair of TTL (transistor-transistor logic) or CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) circuits, with each pair including two I/O (input/output) circuits. The interface circuit 103 passes a digital signal, that is, a single-ended signal, received from a digital circuit 106 or a digital/analog circuit 107 to the digital/analog circuit 107 or the digital circuit 106.
The use of the single-ended signal, however, may cancel out some of the benefits offered by the MCM technology. For example, the single-ended signal usually suffers from high EMI emissions, high crosstalk noises, lower transmission speeds, and limited packaging designs.